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Robert Phillips, Ralph Phillips and John Hart Burn were among the 19 who perished

Halfway though World War One a mine meant for a British warship blew up an entirely different target. The explosion killed all 19 men on board, many from only two streets, some from the same family.

In the early hours of New Year's Eve 1916, a pilot boat - the Protector - was waiting at the mouth of the River Tyne.

The men on board were about to be blown clean out of the water.

"There was a noise as if it was a volcano and all they saw was a column of water and smoke and the pilot cutter was no more," says Bill Watson, whose uncle Ralph Phillips and great-grandfather Robert Phillips were on board.